I was having a look at some of our past cameratrap pictures and looking closer at the Leopard images in order to see if i could identify the individuals. I reckoned at first that the first two cats were the same and the third was a second cat. The size of the first two males looks about the same and i suppose that is why i assumed they were the same. The third looked more juvenile, not yet with all the fat around his upper body, neck and head. Anyway, have a look at these three cats and tell me your opinion:

Here is the first one. notice the sort of spiral around one central rousette three quarters down his left back end.

Now compare that same area to this cat caughtabout 2kms away. he is about the same size but that funny rousette does not appear on this animals rear end.

Now, here is the third animals left rear. he appeared significantly smaller than the previsous two cats in the other images we got of him.

Here are a series of Rocks that I photographed on a recent trip down the Ewaso Nyiro River. I would appreciate any ideas anyone might have about any of these structures as well as some clue as to how they were formed. I know that our area has experienced a great deal of interesting geologic activity associated with the the movement and spread of the rift valley but i dont know enough about it. Thanks for any ideas. Cheers, James

Here is an image of the dam we built here on Tumaren for our wildlife. It remains dry despite April being what should be the rainiest month of the year. We can only hope that May makes up for the lack of rain this month.

We got this big boy last night out on the road. you can see the setting moonlight in the background. We think he is the same mail we got in our cameratrap at an Impala Kill earlier in the year. Fortunately, he did not find the Easter Bunny who did visit us with chocholate this morning.

These shots were taken several months ago as some of our walking safari clients were leaving on the road to Nanyuki. You can see in the photo that one of the front dogs has a collar. This will be one of the Laikipia Wilddog projects animals and we will be sure to forward this post to them for identification. In the picture there is a fence in the background. This fence borders one of the large conservation ranches and functions to keep black rhino within a large area and also restricts illegal grazers from entering from the main road. The fence allows all animals but the rhinos from passing and so do not get the impression that these animals are at all enclosed or tame – they are very wild and free to roam all over our area.

Lots of these Variegated Grasshopers around now. Its dry here and they often seem to be around when its dry (or maybe i just hear them better in the withered grass?). These guys travel in small swarms (oftern times about 30 or more individuals). Insects with black and yellow markings are often times poisonous or foul tasting and so i would not be surprised to find that these guys were also distasteful.

We find Desert Roses downstream on the Ewaso Nyiro River and east of us at lower altitudes .Yesterday though, Kitilla, one of our rangers came to us to say he had found an unidentified plant along our eastern boundary. We were shocked to find that it was a Desert Rose. These incredible flowering bushes, despite a poisonous sap is a popular ornamental plant that makes its way to nurseries all over the world. The sap is also used by some African tribes as a pois0n to tip their arrowheads. This individual is the only Desert Rose that we have seen in our area. How it was dispersed so far from his friends in the lower hotter country is a mystery. Anyone know if birds eat Desert Rose seeds?

We have Lesser Kudu on Tumaren but we have only seen Greater Kudu on some of the nearby hills (recorded less than .5kms away). It is likely that Greater Kudu have crossed Tumaren as well but we have not yet seen them. On a recent trip I took the following picture of a Greater downstream on the Ewaso Nyiro River and then The Lesser I took a few kilometers from Tumaren. Seeing these images together is nice because you can more easily see the differences than you might in some guide books. The first image is the Greater. Males have a pronounced dewlap, they are generally large and bulky, have an even and overall greyer coloration, and lack the more striking white markings that the greater has on his neck.

And here is the Lesser. He is a smaller with more dramatic coloration. Lesser often are said to have more stripes but this characteristic is not needed for ID. Habitat is usually the best way to narrow it down quickly, Lesser preferring flatter dryer, hotter places while greater prefer more rugged hillside type habitat.